MSU debate places three teams in Top 25 at Harvard tournament

The Michigan State University Debate Team placed three two-person teams in the top 25 at the Harvard University tournament.

The debate was held Oct. 26-28 on the campus of Harvard University in Cambridge, Mass.

The top-finishing two-person MSU team consisted of Honors College students Kaavya Ramesh, an international relations, Chinese, comparative cultures and politics senior, and Tyler Thur, an international relations sophomore, who finished 17th out of 77 teams competing from 36 schools.

The team of international relations junior Aniela Butler and math sophomore Margaret Strong finished 19th. And the team of international relations junior Jack Caporal and international relations junior Quinn Zemel placed 25th.

As a squad, the team recorded wins over: New York University, Northwestern University, Stanford University, Wake Forest University and the University of Michigan, among others.

“Having all three of our teams place in the top 25 at the Harvard tournament was a strong statement to the rest of the competition,” said Debate Head Coach Will Repko. “Kudos to our students; they were prepared for the tournament and performed tremendously.”

The team travels to Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, N.C., for the Franklin R. Shirley Classic Tournament on Nov. 15. The Shirley is the largest tournament of the fall semester and will be attended by 150 teams from around the country.